IT Marketing Tips: How to Boost Your Success Rate When Booking Appointments on the Phone

IT marketing professionals face the same challenges as any other marketers when scheduling appointments over the phone. Telephone appointments are often dicey but not impossible to navigate. Teleprospecting and telemarketing require a one-on-one connection because the human touch is still a significant resource to getting meaningful business leads. Getting in touch with prospective customers via email or advertisements is difficult; some customers will ignore, block, or forget about you before you can make any substantial progress. Making telephone appointments or ‘cold calls’, as they are commonly referred to, gives you the opportunity to establish yourself and assure your clients of your accessibility in terms of communication.

Avoid Selling the Product or Service

Setting up an appointment seems like a natural and easy move; however, many sales agents and marketers find it difficult to focus solely on trying to get the appointment, without trying to sell the product. Naturally, you will feel inclined to try to push your company’s services or products to a prospective client immediately you make contact, which ultimately hurts your chances of making a genuine connection and getting a long-term client. You need the client to understand that you are asking for a business relationship, which is very different from making a buying decision. Clients usually object if they feel they that you are trying to shove a product down their throats without really understanding their needs. You need to challenge that view by giving them the assurance they need to get on board with your products or services. You can build interest through the information you relay. You need to persuade the customer by understanding the problems they face and use this as a base to schedule an appointment.

Building Value

When making a telephone appointment, you need to convince the client that you value their time and whatever you are offering is worthy of their time. You need to make a case that shows them value over time. Start with a short introduction of yourself, your business and the kinds of problems your products or services offer. Offer information that is specific to their needs, including a solution to help them improve their efficiency and bottom line. Tapping into client concerns ensures that they continue listening and engaging with you throughout the telephone call and boosts their confidence in working with you. When setting up an appointment via phone, having a good rapport brings down their guard allowing you to proceed with scheduling a meeting. A prospective client will only give you an appointment if they feel confident that you have a solution they need, and they can trust you to add value to their time and their business.

Alternate of Choice

Once your clients agree to see you, give them different choices in terms of time. Alternate the different options to either morning, afternoon or evening to suit different preferences and schedules. Keep your tone friendly and inviting but still highly professional when speaking to a client about a potential meeting time. Giving a potential client different choices for the appointment makes it hard for them to say no, allowing you to get a commitment you can easily follow up on. Engaging as an IT marketing professional, you can notify and solidify the telephone appointment by sending a follow-up email with full details and a calendar invitation. This way, it is set in both your schedules and you both have email reminders before the meeting.

Conclusion

IT marketing utilizes technological progression to interact with its established and prospective clients. Emails and advertisements have greatly influenced the standard of business operations allowing more marketers to engage a larger spectrum of prospects within a short duration. However, cold calling is still as effective because it stems from the necessity of a genuine human connection. Telephone appointments allow you to hear directly from the customer. Customers may inform you on what they need allowing you to find effective solutions to problems they may are facing in their day-to-day operations. Successfully booking an appointment allows you to engage the customer further, which is great for business, and can help you build a long-term relationship.

IT Marketing Tips: How to Boost Your Success Rate When Booking Appointments on the Phone was last modified: January 8th, 2018 by Herbert Olitsky